European Journal of Biotechnology and Bioscience

Authors
Rohini Kallur, Savitha Patil

Abstract
The present study is done to evaluate the antianxiety effect of Memantine in swiss albino mice. They were divided into four groups containing six mice in each group. First group animals were given normal saline as a control (10ml/kg), Lorazepam (0.5mg/kg) for second group and for third group Memantine (3mg/kg) as a test drug and Memantine plus Lorazepam (3mg/kg + 0.5mg/kg) for fourth group intraperitoneally daily for 7 consecutive days. Results were analyzed by ANOVA followed by Post hoc Tukey’s test. In passive avoidance test, animals treated with Memantine showed anxiolytic effect by significant decrease (p<0.001) in step down latency period in SFZ, significant increase (p<0.001) in step down error and total time spent in SZ on day ‘0’ and day ‘07’ when compared to control group. In open field test, animals treated with Memantine showed anxiolytic effect by significant increase (p<0.001) in no. of squares crossed, time spent in central square, no. of rearing and significant decrease (p<0.001) in freezing time on day ‘0’ and day ‘07’ as compared to control group. Memantine showed synergistic antianxiety effect with Lorazepam when combined together. NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) antagonist, Memantine is found to produce significant antianxiety effect in experimental models of anxiety in mice.